If you’ve ever been on one of the Friends’ Cultural Bus Trips, you know what a pleasure it is to board a bus for a museum and let the trip unfold without any more effort. What luxury! But behind the scenes, there’s a tiny dynamo working at the speed of light to make it all come together into the seamless experience that it is. This month’s Volunteer Spotlight falls on Carol Weiner, the Friends’ Special Programs Coordinator and the magic behind the bus trip.
Carol moved with her husband Mel to Thousand Oaks in 1997, and became a Friend of the Thousand Oaks Library shortly thereafter. Carol had been an adult ESL teacher in their previous city of Torrance, and had put together day trips to introduce students to American culture. As fate would have it, almost as soon as Carol became a Friend, she and her husband Mel were asked to take over the bus trips to cover a maternity leave, and Carol has been doing it ever since.
The cultural bus trips have covered a wide range of southern California attractions—recent destinations have included the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Skirball Museum’s Paul Simon retrospective, the California Science Center’s King Tut Exhibit, the Autry Museum, the Annenberg Space for Photography, and the Armand Hammer Museum. Carol says she’s been doing this long enough now that she has a sense of what interests the trip participants, and chooses sites based on their exhibits.
“For instance,” she says, “We went twice to the California Science Center because so many people wanted to see the Endeavor, and then didn’t go back till the King Tut.”
Carol makes it look easy, but there’s a lot more to pulling off a cultural bus trip than just showing up on trip day. Carol’s three-month process starts with contacting the venue and making arrangements. “Timing is important,” she says; “Timing around holidays, and to seasons.” She works with venue staff to get group pricing. Then it’s on to the bus company; making and confirming arrangements for the appropriately-sized bus and driver. Next is publicity—at least two months ahead of time. Carol writes copy for her announcement, then works with library staff to get flyers made and the event calendared. Once the word is out, Carol is accepting phone calls and receiving payment from 40-50 people for each event.
“It can be complicated,” Carol says. “On one recent trip, it was all arranged, and then I had to call everyone back because the museum was having a charity walk that day, and the traffic was going to be bad. So the bus had to leave earlier than planned, but everyone was terrific and cooperative.”
Once the bus arrives at the museum, there’s not much relaxing or taking in the exhibit for Carol. “It’s important to me to ensure that the group has a good experience,” she says, so she’s making sure everyone’s finding what they need, all getting on and off the bus at the right time, and happy. She wouldn’t have it any other way, however. “I’ve gathered a lot of institutional knowledge about the places we visit, and learned a lot,” she says. “Museums are getting more expensive, and the group rate we get, plus the ease of arrangements the bus provides, makes these destinations more accessible to people.” Bottom line, she says: “I think it makes people happy to go on these trips, and I feel good about that.”
The Friends’ Cultural Bus Trips are a wonderful way to take a day-long adventure, and we have Carol Weiner to thank for that. Hundreds of people have enjoyed one or more of her trips, and we hope you’ll keep an eye on the Focus and the FTOL website for upcoming adventures. Thanks, Carol, for all that you do to help #keepthelibraryawesome.
About Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library
The Friends of the Thousand Oaks Library is a California-based group of avid library advocates dedicated to enhancing the Thousand Oaks Library with support services and intellectual and cultural programs that enrich the lives of area residents of all ages. Learn more at www.ftol.org.
Contact
Kathy Leslie, Publicity Coordinator
Email: publicity@ftol.org